Magical A Side Story To Harry Potter
by BeccaIsCrazy
Summary: Samantha Gray just recieved her very late acceptance into Hogwarts! But can she, with the help of some friends, survive her first year, as a fifth year?


I. Chapter One

I never really knew I was a witch. I mean, I always knew something was different about me. Like the time when I "accidentally" flipped Andrea Finch in 3rd year without moving. But I didn't know I was, well, magical.

I actually thought that I was a freak. That I was a child with some sort of disease, and it didn't help that all the other kids were treating me like that too. But now that I'm going to a new school full of kids with the same problems as me, I can finally fit in.

My name is Samantha Gray and I am now 15. I have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with the emerald ink letter and all, even the owl. They apologized for the late acceptance, and told me everything I needed.

I'm not really sure how my mom is taking it, but my little sister Meghan seems pretty happy for me. She actually helped me pack my trunk, but only until she went on facebook yet again. After packing my essential items, such as my iPod, my camera, my clothes, my many CDs, my journal, and my teddy bear, Sir Cuddlesworth of Fluffington, I was ready to go.

Happy to get out of our lonely apartment building in Manchester, I took the train down to London, following the directions that were sent with the owl. I'm a normal American girl, but I grew up in England since my dad was British. My father died when I was 5, after a car crash on a business trip. The train wasn't a problem for me since I was taking it ever since I could walk. The only problem with this train ride however, was the fact that a homeless man would not stop trying to sniff the lady who was across from me's shirt, and that a old lady held a box in which a strange odor came from. I was too afraid to ask, but I expect a dead animal was nestled inside.

Looking out the window, I couldn't help but wonder who I would meet at this school, or what would happen there. What does magic do? Are there politics along with it? Is there good magic and bad magic? Or are there good and bad wizards?

Lost in my daydreams, I noticed a flash of emerald green. I looked over at a young man sitting diagonally across from me, and it seemed he was clutching a large brown trunk, and a letter addressed to "Adam Green" from Albus Dumbledore, who was our headmaster. I quickly pulled out my letter and started doing double takes because I was baffled by the fact that_ there was another person like me._

He must have noticed me looking at the letter, because he looked just as confused as me. He stood up, nearly toppling over all his things, and walked over to me. He held on to a bar in front of me and held out his letter.

"Did… did you get one too?" he asked in a sweet English voice.

"Er, I think so…. Are you, um, 'different' too?" I asked trying to keep as secretive as I could. He nodded slowly and sat down at my side. It was then that I noticed how cute he actually was. He has chestnut, messy hair that seemed as though it had a mind of its own. He also has deep green eyes (which seemed ironic on how his last name was green), small dimples, and a big toothy smile. He was wearing a blue plaid shirt and blue jeans.

"I have no idea what is going on, so do you mind if I stick around with you for a while? I am totally lost with this whole, 'Hogwarts' thing. Oh, I'm Adam Green by the way," he said with a smile and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Sam Gray, and trust me; I have no clue what to do either. All I know is that we have to go to Dee-a-gon Alley and get supplies."

"Diagon Alley," he laughed, "my dad is a wizard, and I just found out. I'm going into my 5th year, how about you?"

"Yeah, me too! Maybe we have a chance at getting around after all," I said with a laugh.

He grinned, and we ended up talking the rest of the train ride about where we lived, what we liked to do, our reactions to this letter, our questions, and even I told him some of my secrets. I really started to trust him, and I'm pretty sure he trusts me too. I didn't even know the train stopped until the lady with the dead animal made a growl at me and told us this was London. We got off the train and somehow, I felt the urge of relief and a twinge of hope that this might just be a good thing after all.

* * *

II. Chapter Two

We got off the train and immediately pulled out the directions to Diagon Alley. I stopped at a pub with a picture of a cauldron on it, and stepped inside where the barman pointed us to the back. With the help of a wizard with a large cane and a revolving eye, whom to which I thought was very intimidating, we got through the barrier to the Alley.

I have never seen such I thing in my life! All sorts of witches and wizards were running around in heavy robes some with books and cauldrons, owls were flying all around us, and many types of objects were flying around on their own. I looked into shops where young and old wizards alike were crowded around buying books and parchment, and then in another shop was a small café with moving coffee cups and brooms sweeping by themselves. I didn't even know my mouth was wide open until Adam started to laugh.

"You should see your face! It's incredible isn't it? These kids must be students going to Hogwarts too. Um, my letter says that we need to go to Gringotts Wizarding Bank to get some money. They put the needed amount for everything inside our vaults and gave us the keys."

I punched him in the shoulder, and I could tell I was blushing by the heat of my face, and he grinned.

With that, he pulled out a small golden key and put it in his pocket. I checked my letter too, and nevertheless, a little key was waiting for me. I looked around and guessed that the towering snowy white building with gigantic bronze doors was in fact the bank. Of course, I was right.

We headed inside to see many goblins stamping, sorting, writing, and talking to customers. I looked around and saw a notice board. I read it carefully and it stated:

**Gringotts Wizarding bank offers muggle-wizarding currency exchange.**

"I'm pretty sure that meant that it means we can exchange pounds into wizard money," I said, trying to sound as smart as possible.

Adam nodded, and we went over to the closest goblin that wasn't occupied. He was a younger looking goblin, and the name plate in front of him read: Nibgit.

"Um, Hello, we need to get to ou-" he asked, but was cut short by the high pitched, uncaring voice of Nibgit.

"State your name, and hold out your key," he asked not even looking up to see Adam. Adam pulled out his key and handed to the goblin.

"A-Adam Green."

"Very well, and you madam?" he asked looking up for once.

"Samantha Gray" I said as politely as I can, holding out my key for the goblin's long pointed shriveled fingers to grasp. He took it, and hopped down from his tall desk to escort us.

I climbed onto a small cart, as Nibgit pulled a lever which made us start to move. After about 2 seconds, we were going so fast, I was clutching Adam for support. We came to a sudden halt and stepped off the platform. I was so dizzy I was ready to puke.

Nibgit pulled out what looked like Adam's key and put it into the big bronze door we were facing. The door was decorated with crescent moons and stars, and for a moment, I didn't want to look away.

Adam went inside his vault as Nibgit opened it, and took out 2 handfuls of gold, silver, and bronze coins from a small pile inside.

Nibgit closed back his vault and climbed onto the platform once more. After Adam and I were situated on the platform, Nibgit pulled the lever and we flew off in the opposite direction. On the way, he looked back at us.

"Since you are obviously new to the Wizarding world, I will tell you about our currency. The gold one you are holding is called a Galleon. It is the most valuable. The Silver is called a Sickle, which is the next most valuable. The bronze is called a Knut, which is the least valuable," he said.

He turned back right as we came to a halt in front of another bronze door. This door however, was plated with flowers and stars. It was beautiful and unique, and I've never seen anything like it.

Nibgit opened the vault and a pile of galleons, knuts and sickles were stacked. I went in and grabbed two handfuls, leaving a good amount left, and went back to the trolley. Adam, Nibgit and I zoomed back to the main hall and hopped out of the platform and thanked Nibgit. He grunted handed back our keys and went back to his desk. Adam and I left Gringotts and yet again, pulled out our supplies list.

"Looks like we need three black robes, parchment, quills, and since we are new, some of the spell books for younger students, a pointed hat, gloves, a winter cloak, a cauldron, a telescope, and a wand," Adam said.

"We should head out to Flourish and Blotts for the books and parchment supplies, which I think was the book shop with all the students inside. And I'm guessing that the store next to it, Madam Maltin's, is where we can get our robes and such," I said, and wow, I'm getting good at this wizard stuff.

* * *

III. Chapter Three

After getting almost all our supplies, Adam and I went over to the pub we came through, which we found out by some witches and wizards with fire red hair, was called the Leaky Cauldron. Huh, that explains the cauldron I saw earlier on the front.

We headed inside the pub and Adam went to see the grumpy barman from earlier about our rooms upstairs that were kindly booked for us by Professor Dumbledore.

I saw an empty table by the window and sat down. The place was very dusty, and by the time of day, it wasn't very full. Only a couple of wizards sat drinking Ale alone, and a witch by the fireplace was being served by a floating kettle and tea cup. An odd sensation came over me that I was being watched, but none of the old wizards seemed to be looking my way. _Whatever, probably nothing,_ I thought.

Adam came back to my table holding two keys and two glasses of what looked like cream soda.

"Butterbeer. The barman told me that it's the most popular thing around these days. Once we are done here, we can head up to our rooms and unpack," he said.

I took the glass of butterbeer and had a sip. It was delicious. It felt warm running down my throat, and heated up my stomach. In a couple of minutes, my entire glass was empty.

"Well, I'm going to go unpack. See you in a couple of minutes!" I chirped, my mood being brightened by the extraordinary drink.

I headed up the creaky old stairs and down a hallway full of damaged old brown doors. Down the hallway, there was a witch who was cleaning alongside a charmed broom that was sweeping furiously. After I came to my door, the old witch turned and muttered something under her breath and slammed the door to the room she was cleaning. My room was small but comfortable, with a mirror on the wall, a love seat, a bathroom, a bed, a fireplace, a wooden dresser, and a small end table. I unpacked my things and organized them all over my room, and tried to get cleaned up.

I looked in the tarnished mirror on the wall and noticed that my brown, long, straight hair was a tangled mess, and my skinny jeans and tank top were wrinkled. I had bags under my greenish blue eyes and my makeup didn't seem to do much good. I took a shower and got dressed. I took out some shorts and a black long-sleeved shirt. I laced up my converse and flat-ironed my hair. Then with one last final touch of makeup, I headed back downstairs and ran right into the old cleaning witch.

"Watch yourself you filthy child!" she spat with distaste. She hurried around a corner and disappeared. I felt embarrassed of what had happened and rushed down the stairs, tripping down the last few. Adam was laughing when I came to the table he was waiting at.

"I'm such a klutz, always have been," I said quietly. All the people in the room were staring at me and I couldn't help my pale face from blushing.

"That was really funny," he said with a grin "maybe you should watch your step next time."

He got up and left a sickle on the table for tip. We left the Leaky Cauldron and I remember the incident upstairs. I told Adam all about it and he shrugged.

"Probably just a cranky old witch who hasn't gotten a day off in a while"

I laughed, and I forgot at once about the cleaning witch. We stopped by Ollivander's Wand Shop and went inside.

"Are you two looking for wands?" asked a kind old man, whom I'm guessing is Ollivander.

"Yes, sir," said Adam, politely.

"Alright, who is first then?"

Adam stepped forward and went into the back with Ollivander. After a couple of minutes of staring at the mountains of wands that were surrounding me, Adam came back out with a beautiful wand.

"12 inch dogwood with a Billywig stinger core," stated Ollivander, who beckoned me over to the back with him. I stepped forward behind a mountain of boxes and Ollivander went to a ladder.

"Your wand chooses you; it reflects you and your characteristics. Now, let's see how you do with this one."

He gave me a wand with stars surrounding the base and I felt a tingle of electricity going up my hand, into my arm, and going throughout my body. I flicked it and a golden wisp was sent out of the tip of my wand and swirled around me and Ollivander gracefully and exquisitely.

"Your wand is 11 inches, mahogany, with a Hippogriff Feather core. Congratulations."

* * *

IV. Chapter Four

Holding the wand in my had, I beamed up at Ollivander, who smiled back down at me. I followed him back to the main room where Adam was expectantly waiting.

"11 inches, mahogany, with a Hippogriff Feather core. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will enjoy your year at Hogwarts!" excliamed Ollivander.

Adam and I walked out of Ollivander's wand shop triumphantly, and headed down the road looking in different exotic shop windows as we went. We stopped by Eeylops Owl Emporium and I was stunned by all the beautiful owls. There were so many! Screech owls, Barn, Tawny, Brown, Snowy and so many more! They were gorgeous as well, with their wings painted with all sorts of natural colors. However, one owl in particular caught my eye. A brown and grey streaked Tawny was nudging my hand and pecking at my fingers gently.

"Does it say we are allowed to have pets in Hogwarts?" I asked.

"Well, of course. Some people have rats, toads or cats, but the most popular is a owl. You can use them to send letters to your family or friends. I was thinking of getting one myself, how about him?" Adam asked, holding up a black barn owl with a yellow beak that was resting on his arm.

"Oh he is gorgeous! You should really get him, Adam! I was thinking about this one," I asked, holding up the owl.

"He is pretty handsome. I like his feathers!" Adam replied. We both went up to the counter and payed for our owls, and the man at the counter gave us a free cage with them. After we left the shop, we stopped by Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor, ordered two sundaes and sat down at a table outside the shop.

"What are you going to name your owl?" asked Adam, while taking a humungo scoop of ice cream and shoveling it into his mouth.

"Well, I was thinking I would name him Gulliver," I replied, but suddenly I was overcome by a HUGE brainfreeze.

"Hm, thats a good name. I was thinking I'll call mine Dustwing," he replied, shoveling yet another huge scoop of ice cream into his mouth. It still confuses me how guys can eat so much.

"Thats a lovely name, Adam. Hey, do we have any more shopping to do?"

"We still have to get... a cauldron, and some dress robes. Oh no, that means dancing," said Adam, looking horrorstruck. I was nervous too, I mean, a dance? I've been to two dances in my entire life. One was in 1st year and we had to dress up for Halloween. And the 2nd was in 4th year when I spent most of the time alone in a bathroom stall because Ashley Prince pushed me down on the dance floor and spilled punch on my dress. Yeah, I'm not too excited for this.

"Well, might as well put on a happy face right? Maybe a you will go with a beautiful wizard girl," I replied with a fake smile on my face. A failed attempt to cover up my distaste for dances.

"Hopefully," he said with a grin obviously blushing, "but lets wait to get to Hogwarts to worry about that. Shall we do this tomorrow? Tomorrow is our last day for shopping before we have to get on The Hogwarts Express."

"Of course," I said as we got up. We started heading back to the Leaky Cauldron when I heard a scream coming from behind me. I whipped around to see a man with his wand pointed towards a girl, who was squirming on the ground shrieking. His hand was pointed towards the sky and I looked up to find a person floating unconscious in mid-air.

"_Finite!_See Calcious? You will pay me my money, or watch your daughter die, along with your son," he laughed, "_Crucio!_"

The girl gave out a bloodcurdling scream and pleaded with the horrid man. It was then I noticed the man to the right of the wizard who was in shock. His eyes were bloodshot and he was trembling.

"Please! I will give you the money later! Please Rayner, Please!"

The evil man shook his head and laughed a malevolent laugh once more. "No way! I gave you my entire bank account on that bet, and I want my money!"

My wand grew scalding hot in my pocket, and I was so overcome with rage that I pulled it out and pointed it at the man.

"Sam! WHAT ARE YOU DO-" Adam shrieked, but it was too late.

"**_STUPEFY!" _**I shrieked at the man. He flew backwards, and a nearby wizard took control of the hovering body and lowered him to the ground. Another witch bounded the man in ropes with another spell and, with the help of some shop owners, restrained the man.

"I thought you didn't know any spells!" shouted Adam from behind me. I noticed I was on my knees and breathing heavily. My heart was beating at a very fast pace and I thought I would black out at any moment.

"I-I don't! I d-don't know what c-came over me!" I gasped, and stood up with weak knees. I almost fell over but Adam caught me and held me in place. Yeah, I'm going to black out. The man with bloodshot eyes sprinted over to me and hugged me so tightly, I was positive I would die now.

"Thank-you! Thank you so much! Merlin's beard you saved my family's life! I am forever grateful!" he said, out of breath as well.

"No problem, sir. What are they going to do with him?" I asked, looking over at the man who was struggling in a chair that was bound with ropes, shouting and cursing at everyone who was restraining him.

"They are going to take him to the ministry, probably. Hopefully send him to Azkaban, the wizard prison," he breathed, "Again, thank you so much!" He hugged me agian (Dang, will people just stop hugging me?) and ran back over to his family, who were both unconscious. But my eyes were gazing at the man who was being held back. His eyes were angry and they were staring directly at me.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS GIRL! I WILL GET YOU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, but two large wizards carried him into a building. I heard clapping coming from my left, and soon enough, everyone was. I also noticed that Adam was still holding me securely. He must have noticed I noticed because he let go and blushed so that almost his entire face was as red as a tomato. Not being sure what to do, and afraid that I might have a wizard-maniac on my tail now, we headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. I almost toppled over again, but Adam gave me support with a muscular arm.

We got back to the inn and we both said goodnight and went upstairs. I changed out of my clothes and put Gulliver on the table, he was wide awake and would not stop screeching, so I let him out and he flew out the window to hunt. I fell onto my Down bed and immediately started to doze off, and found myself thinking of owls flying through golden wisps of magic, and a crazy wizard chasing me through Gringotts.

* * *

V. Chapter Five

I woke up the next morning to a tapping noise on the window and soft screeches that were muffled by the glass.

"Five more *yawn* minutes..." I breathed, too groggy to move. But the pecking only got louder and the screeching became more irritated.

"Alright, Alright! Don't get your feathers in a twist you nutty bird!" I said, but as I opened the window, Gulliver bit me so hard that a small dot of blood oozed from my fore finger. He flew to his cage angrily at me, but within moments, he was fast asleep and the only sound he made was the spft sound of breathing.

I shuffled into the bathroom, took a shower and brushed my teeth. After that, I changed my clothes and put on some skinny jeans and a sweater. I went back into the bathroom to do my makeup and wrestled with my hair once more before lacing up my converse and darting out the door.

Steering clear of the cleaning witch, who was in a knot with some, what my books called Doxies. I went down the stairs trying not to fall, but then I noticed that everyone in the room was staring at me. I tried to ignore them, but the moments that I just stood there looking for Adam were the awkwardest moments in my life. Even the brooms and mops stopped working. Finally after what seemed like forever, I saw the brown messy haired boy sitting at a table sipping a teacup with the words, _World's Best Wizard_, on it and reading a newspaper. I hurried over to the table and sat down, tring not to look at the people who continued to stare at me.

"Goodmorning! Having a good time reading your newspaper? You must be cause you obvisously can't see me standing there like a bumbling idiot while _the entire place is staring at me!_" I said hotly. But to be honest, he could've helped. He put down his newspaper, and stopped sipping his tea.

"And goodmorning to you too," he said with a frown, "looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Well, the only reason people are looking at you is because it turns out that yesterday you stopped one of the most wanted criminals in London. Probably on his way to Azkaban right now." He took a big sip of his teacup again as a floating teapot came to fill back his cup. A teacup came whizzing around with a cup of sugar and some creams and plopped down right in front of me.


End file.
